Romans 1:11-12 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong — 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
Sometimes we think “spiritual” things must be mysterious or ephemeral, are difficult to grasp, hard to get our hands and hearts around. But is this true? Well, yes and no. It depends on yow you define “spiritual” things.
There is a debate in the secular world about spiritual versus religious expressions. But what that debate is really about is Christianity. They want to stomp out expressions that are Christian. Let the Buddhist or Muslim or Animist say or do anything they want, but we must stop the bigoted Christians from expressing their faith. They don’t want any expressions of faith that might make them uncomfortable.
Our text brings light to this discussion. The Apostle Paul in this beginning section of the Book of Romans, begins to set up his polemic, his argument on behalf of the truth of the Gospel, by laying some necessary groundwork. He gives his readers some background that helps them understand his relationship to them, a relationship that has yet to be made personally.
You see, Paul has not yet met them face to face. We don’t know the extent of his contact with the Believers there in Rome, but there must have been some. It is likely that Paul has talked to people from Rome during his extensive preaching and teaching tours. It is safe to assume that some have returned home to Rome and began living out what Paul had taught.
It is probably to these people who are acquainted with Paul, that Paul is writing. Paul would not have written a letter such as this to random people. He has a specific audience for this well structured presentation of the Good News.
So as Paul writes he includes his desire to see them face to face. Our text tells us that he wanted to impart some spiritual gift to them, so that they would be strong. This sounds fairly ephemeral, hard to grasp.
But then Paul puts flesh to this spiritual gift. That’s right, he spells out what that spiritual gift would look like. Paul says that this spiritual gift he wants them to receive comes with skin on it.
Paul wants to be there personally so that both he and them may be encouraged. Encouragement needs skin to be passed along. There needs to be a person on the giving and receiving end of encouragement, or it isn’t encouragement.
And this encouragement is the spiritual gift that Paul wants them to have. So let’s get this straight. Here the spiritual gift is something very tangible, measurable, felt, and experienced.
When was the last time you were encouraged? When was that last time you encouraged someone else? This process of giving and receiving encouragement is a spiritual gift.
And we have some control over the distribution of this gift. We are supposed to “encourage one another.” That is part of the job description of every believer. This is Church 101.
We encourage one another when we share our history together. That is the importance of reading the Scriptures during our gatherings. The Scriptures contain our collective history of faith. We enter into the story, since is it our story. Abraham is my spiritual ancestor, his story being my story, his successes my successes, his failures my failures.
We encourage one another when we share our burdens and bear each other’s burdens. We are not alone! Let me say it again: We are not alone! The past two years have certainly thrown a wrench in this. We must make the effort to gather together and share our burdens.
The Arnold Journey 